The Supreme Court on Friday Sep 28,2018 granted women of all ages the right to enter the SAbarimala temple, reversing the Kerala shrine’s tradition of barring girls and women of menstruating age—10-50 years.
The verdict was passed by 4:1 majority by a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and judges D.Y. Chanrachud, A.M. Khanwilkar, R.F. Nariman and Indu Malhotra, the sole woman on the bench and the author of a dissenting opinion.
The SCI removed a ban that prevented women between 10 and 50 years of age from entering Kerala's Sabarimala temple -- the latest in a recent series of landmark decisions, including the decriminalisation of gay sex and adultery.
The Sabarimala shrine, located northeast of Pathanamthitta in a tiger reserve, is dedicated to the Hindu deity Ayyappan. Devotees consider Ayyappan to be an eternal celibate.
Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar, who delivered one of four judgments, said devotion can't be subject to gender discrimination.
Justices Rohinton F Nariman and Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud concurred with Misra and Khanwilkar. Justice Indu Malhotra dissented
Chandrachud said religion can't be used as a cover to deny women the right to worship, and that to treat women as the children of a lesser God was to blink at the Constitution.
JUSTICE INDU MALHOTRA DISSENTS
Justice Indu Malhotra, the lone woman on the bench, said it wasn't for courts to determine which religious practices should be struck down -- except in issues of social evil, like Sati.
Issues which have a deep religious connotation, she said, shouldn't be tinkered with to maintain a secular atmosphere in the country.
Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said the "wonderful" judgment "opens up the way forward for Hinduism to become even more inclusive and not a property of one caste or one sex."
Kandararu Rajeevaru, the head priest at Sabarimala, said the verdict was "disappointing" -- -- but that the 'Tantri [head priest] family' would accept it.
The Congress, currently an Opposition party in Kerala, said it welcomed the verdict.
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